This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from the prior Japanese Patent Application No. 2000-224345, filed Jul. 25, 2000, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention relates to an optical element change-over control apparatus for automatically changing necessary optical elements for various observations and an optical microscope using the control apparatus.
Various microscopic observation methods are used in the fields of medicine, biology, industries, etc. These observation methods, including the bright-field, dark-field, differential-interference contrast, and fluorescent observation methods, are changed over to one another by selecting necessary optical elements.
Further, a plurality of objective lens are used, and two or more types of objective lenses are required depending on the technical fields and applications. In order to meet this requirement with high efficiency, optical element change-over means, such as a revolver, cube cassette, filter turret, etc., are developed as component units that can be attached to a microscope. So-called system microscopes are prevailing microscopes that incorporate components selected according to the field of application and have the necessary number of change-over stages for the viewing method. One such system microscope may use, for example, a six-hole revolver, among other ones including 5-, 7-, and 8-hole revolvers. The cube cassette may, for example, be a 4-hole cube cassette selected among other ones including 6- and 8-hole cube cassettes. With this arrangement, the objective lens can be designed for 6-stage change-over, and the viewing method for 4-stage change-over. If the unit is replaced in the microscope of this type, the degree of freedom of microscope control changes, so that the control function must be changed in many cases. Further, the degree of freedom of the currently set unit, e.g., the number of holes of the revolver, should be learned in advance by any method. Described in Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 8-179218, for example, is a microscopic system, which comprises motor-operated loading-unloading means for inserting into and removing various optical members from an optical path, detecting means for detecting any of the optical members in the optical path, input means for inputting control instructions from an operator, and control means. The control means receives information on the state of the optical member from the detecting means, and delivers a control command to the loading-unloading means to control the insertion of the optical member concerned in response to a control instruction inputted through the input means. The microscopic system further comprises setting means for optionally setting element data on various optical members, memory means capable of storing the element data on the optical members set by means of the setting means and holding the element data even in a power-off state, and display means for displaying the contents of the element data on the optical members. According to this microscopic system, optical members having new element data can be added to the optical member unit, and optimum control of a lighting system and an aiming system can be carried out with use of the added optical members. By retrieving the optical members, the environment of the microscope can be easily built up, and the resulting microscopic system can enjoy improved operating efficiency.
According to the microscopic system described in the aforesaid publication, however, the general control of the microscope is optimized in accordance with only element data on the objective lens that is attached to the revolver and element data on a filter that is attached to the cube cassette and applied to the viewing method. Thus, the control cannot cope with change of the number of change-over stages of the optical member unit, such as the number of holes of the revolver and the number of change-over stages of the cube cassette. If optical element change-over units including a revolver with a different number of holes or a cube cassette with a different number of change-over stages are attached so that the number of changeable objective lenses or the number of change-over stages of the viewing method is changed, therefore, it is necessary to change the control function and configuration.
The present invention has been contrived in consideration of these circumstances, and its object is to provide an optical element change-over control apparatus that is capable of carrying out smooth microscopic operation by detecting the number of change-over stages of optical element change-over units, such as a revolver, cube cassette, filter turret, etc., without changing the control function even in the case where the number of change-over stages of the change-over units is changed as the change-over units attached to the body of a microscope are replaced. And it is also an object of the invention to provide a microscope that utilizes such an optical element change-over control apparatus.
In order to achieve the above object, an optical element change-over control apparatus according to a first aspect of the present invention comprises: an optical element change-over member capable of holding a plurality of optical elements and rotating alternatively to locate a specific optical element on an optical path; a driving element for rotating the optical element change-over member; a positioning detecting element for detecting the selected optical element being positioned so that the optical element stays in a predetermined position on the optical path and outputting positioning signals; an origin detecting element for detecting the point of origin of the optical element change-over member; and a control element for driving the driving element to rotate the optical element change-over member and counting the positioning signals delivered from the positioning detecting element during the time interval that elapses from the instant that the point of origin of the optical element change-over member is first detected by means of the origin detecting element until the point of origin of the optical element change-over member is secondly detected by means of the origin detecting element, thereby detecting the number of change-over stages of the optical element change-over member.
Further, a microscopic apparatus according to a second aspect of the invention uses an optical element change-over control apparatus, which comprises: an optical element change-over member capable of holding a plurality of optical elements and rotating alternatively to locate a specific optical element on an optical path; a driving element for rotating the optical element change-over member; a positioning detecting element for detecting the selected optical element being positioned so that the optical element stays in a predetermined position on the optical path and outputting positioning signals; an origin detecting element for detecting the point of origin of the optical element change-over member; and a control element for driving the driving element to rotate the optical element change-over member and counting the positioning signals delivered from the positioning detecting element during the time interval that elapses from the instant that the point of origin of the optical element change-over member is first detected by means of the origin detecting element until the point of origin of the optical element change-over member is secondly detected by means of the origin detecting element, thereby detecting the number of change-over stages of the optical element change-over member.
According to a third aspect of the invention, there is provided a method for detecting the number of change-over stages of an optical element change-over member capable of holding a plurality of optical elements and rotating alternatively to locate a specific optical element on an optical path, the method comprising: a member rotating step of driving a driving element to rotate the optical element change-over member; a first origin position detecting step of detecting the origin position of the optical element change-over member by means of an origin detecting element; a positioning signal detecting step of determining whether or not a positioning signal, indicative of the selected optical element being positioned so that the optical element stays in a predetermined position on the optical path, is detected after the origin position is detected and incrementing a count value indicative of the number of change-over stages of the optical element change-over member by one every time the positioning signal is detected; and a second origin position detecting step of determining whether or not the origin position of the optical element change-over member is detected again during the execution of the positioning signal detecting step and stopping the rotation of the optical element change-over member when the origin position is detected.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out hereinafter.